Batteries to fuel cells: the drones the ideal application?

Batteries to fuel cells based on hydrogen and methanol are designed and developed for some time and many actually notes the technology landscape have already had occasion to show, at various international events, their own interpretation. Among them Nokia, NEC, Toshiba, Fujitsu and Hitachi.

The power systems fuel cells, however, have had difficulty finding distribution in the consumer field, taking place only in a series of very vertical and niche applications in the professional market. Something, however, could soon change: at the CES the company Intelligent Energy has in fact shown a fuel cell power solution dedicated to the drone market, demonstrating the ability to achieve operational autonomies that exceed 60 minutes, confirming rumors in during the month of December around a mysterious prototype.

As observed EETimes, the company aims to drone prosumer market, where the flight times could easily be more than doubled compared to the 20 minutes that you can get with current technology. At present, two solutions are planned, developed following the directions of customers: one based on easily replaceable cartridges, and a more complex that involves the use of compressed gases and which offers an autonomy more extended. Overall for applications in the field of drones Intelligent Energy solutions can scale to cover requirements from 50W to 5000W.

Henri Winand, CEO of the company, commented: "We are watching the market for long drones. Already in 2000 we for the first time used in fuel cells to power a jet aircraft and drones are certainly the killer app for the batteries to cell fuel". Winand nourishes the ambition to become the ARM equivalent for fuel cells: in fact, the company holds an extensive patent catalog and intellectual property license that allows to provide personalized solutions composed of various elements of intellectual property in possession.

What is interesting is the signing of a letter of intent between the same Intelligent Energy and an unspecified "major drone manufacturer" (DJI? Yuneec?) For the development of drones battery-powered fuel cell. According to reports, the two companies will work together in this first quarter of 2016 to the development of technological solutions that increase the operational autonomy of the drones in flight. The goal is to reach a commercial agreement for the distribution of the solution.

In 2014 the company launched Upp, a fuel cell laptop battery with refillable cartridges available in the Apple UK store. The device is able to provide one week of battery life for a smartphone (a charging order), it received the "CE" certification and CSA "and has been declared safe for transportation on board aircraft.